And.... no uDAC sound

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UncleRico

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And.... no uDAC sound
« on: 25 Dec 2009, 12:57 am »
Hope it's me. Got the uDAC hooked up to son's laptop via included USB cable. Laptop says device is good to go. Got interconnects hooked from uDAC to integrated. White is where white should be and red is where red should be. Tried 'tuner' and 'aux'. No sound.  :cry:

No directions (well, how hard could they be, anyway?). What could I be missing? :?

srb

Re: And.... no uDAC sound
« Reply #1 on: 25 Dec 2009, 01:06 am »
Is the laptop a PC?  I don't know what OS you're using, but you may have to go into the Control Panel > Sound and for Playback, set the uDAC/USB Sound/Whatever as the Default.
 
If it's a Mac - it may be the same requirement of choosing a default sound source, but I don't know where that's done offhand.
 
Steve

UncleRico

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Re: And.... no uDAC sound
« Reply #2 on: 25 Dec 2009, 01:25 am »
Gosh... just had to restart ITunes. :oops:

 :thumb:

UncleRico

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Re: And.... no uDAC sound
« Reply #3 on: 25 Dec 2009, 03:30 am »
Initial impression doing quick A-B flips, with volume of the uDAC at about 3:00 for  what seemed like a level level-match. Dell Laptop & I-Tunes as the transport vs Marantz DVD player from maybe 5 years ago.

The DVD player sounds drier and harsher in comparison. The uDAC combo is more liquid, more analog-like. More ease to the sound. Too many people around to try to evaluate something like imaging or bass. Easier-on-the-ear sound decides the contest right off the bat, though!

Amp is a NAD C340 integrated and speakers a pair of NHT SB2s (6.5 two-way), FWIW.

Just did a quickie headphone test with my son's Grado SR80s- not a very hard test for the uDAC. I had a so-so set of Senns sitting around and it seemed to do more for them. But the amp should definitely help big time on the Grados when compared to the bad sound (he tells me) of the computer's headphone out. Sounded similar to the NAD's headphone out, I thought. His Marantz receiver phone out may have a nicer sound, IIRC. Worst case is that one problem (the computer headphone out) is solved. I'll ask him in a few months about the headphone part.

UncleRico

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Re: And.... no uDAC sound
« Reply #4 on: 25 Dec 2009, 07:29 am »
At the risk of looking like a "glory poster", I'll throw in the reaction of the 20-year old recipient of the uDAC. He wasn't paying very close attention for a while, as he was working on setting up my daughter's new Wii. But he then monkeyed with it for a while, playing some different things.

The pronouncement? "Wow, this thing is great, we (roomate and he) haven't been able to make anything sound like anything other than crap on my stereo (recent 80wpc Marantz receiver, my old NHT SuperOnes and- unused- 90s NAD CD player).

rustydoglim

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Re: And.... no uDAC sound
« Reply #5 on: 30 Dec 2009, 03:29 pm »
We developed the uDAC to target all the laptop users, especially non audiophiles. The laptop headphone out can never compete with a dedicated high performance USB DAC and headphone amp and the sound quality improvement is very obvious.